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“As it should be,” I remindedhim. “I’m going to take over this family one day.”
“You’re carrying yourself like you’ve already taken over it,” he replied. “It’s like…she’s made you more powerful or something, even though I know that sounds ridiculous.”
I let out a dark chuckle. “Shehasmade me more powerful, Aurelio.”
“Then tell her the truth,” he advised. “While I’d never say a word, these things have a way of coming out, Nero. If you tell her now, then she won’t be as hurt if she finds out later.”
“She’ll never find out,” I insisted.“I’mcertainly not going to say anything. I’ve got that woman sleeping in my bed and eating meals with me now, I’d be a fool to undo all that progress.”
“Well, maybe telling her the truth will help her see just why other women aren’t a threat to her,” he suggested. “Though a tad unorthodox, I think if she knew the full extent of your obsession with her, she might be able to rest a little easier. Especially after that bullshit that Elio pulled on your wedding night.”
I blew out some smoke before saying, “Don’t remind me. Even though Kasen and I are in a better place, I still want to fuck him up for setting me up like that. He keeps brushing it off as a joke whenever I’m pissed enough to bring the subject back up, and the little fucker has no idea how close I came to killing him that night.”
“I’m just saying that coming clean serves two purposes,” he went on. “One, it clears your conscience where your relationship with your wife isconcerned. Two, she’ll never have to feel that sickening feeling of betrayal whenever she sees you talking to another woman. You might have a past, but then so does she. This will be about Kasen knowing that she owns your present and future.”
“I’ll lose her if I tell her, Aurelio,” I replied, believing it in my soul. “She’ll see the manipulation for what it was, andI can’t see her ever forgiving me.”
“She might not forgive you if you tell her now, but if you wait until she falls in love with you to confess, she might just be hurt enough then to actually leave you, Nero. Right now, you’ll be pissing her off, not breaking her heart.”
I put out my cigarette in the ashtray on my desk before saying, “I’ll think about it.”
“Look, all of your secrets are safe with me,”Aurelio reiterated. “However, one day, when she’s looking up at you like you hung the moon, that guilt might start eating away at you. I’m telling you, better a pissed off woman than a heartbroken one.”
While I could see the validity of what he was saying, there was no guarantee that Kasen wouldn’t try to leave me right now if I told her the truth. Kasen wasn’t some meek wallflower with no backbone. She was strong, capable, and stubborn as fuck. Luckily for me, we had sold her car and condo in no time, so besides her parents’ house, she’d have nowhere to go if she tried to leave me.
“Like I said, I’ll think about it.”
“Sure thing,Boss,” he snorted, and that was enough to make me smile, despite the late hour.
“Go home,” I ordered. “I’ll call you in the morning.”
“Do you want me to swing by the warehouse and see if they need any help?”
I shook myhead. Even though my brother still had a lot of growing up to do, he knew his shit when it came to work. “Nah, Elio’s got it handled.”
“Okay,” he replied, giving me a terse nod. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I smoked one more cigarette beforeheading towards one of the guest bathrooms because I didn’t want to chance waking Kasen by making too much noise. If she woke up, then I wanted it to be with my face buried between her legs. She might awaken a bit annoyed, but that annoyance wouldn’t last long.
After I was done showering and cleaning up, I headed to the bedroom, and when I opened the door, I saw my wife taking up the entire bed, which wasn’t an easy feat since it was a California King, large enough to fit my frame.
Quietly, I walked overto the bed, then just stood there, staring down at a sleeping Kasen, and my heart did that weird thing in my chest again. Though telling her the truth might be the right thing to do, I was more interested in keeping my wife than doing the right thing. Nothing mattered more to me than forever with Kasen Milano-Sartori.
Chapter 24
Kasen~
I wasn’t sure how I’d gotten through the day, but I’d done it. While I’d always been able to compartmentalize, that particular skill hadtruly come in handy today, because all I kept thinking about was that visit from Franz, my sister, and what I’d overheard last night between Nero and Aurelio.
After leaving work yesterday, I’d gone to visit Fia, but she had refused to see me, and my mother had sided with her like always. Papa had brushed it off as another one of her famous tantrums, and I’d had no choice but to wait it out. As much as I needed advice, I knew that if I told my father about Franz Meier, he’d lose his shit, and Fia’s pregnancy was really tying my hands.
There was also what I’d overheard when Nero had gotten home last night. After thinking it through, I’d found myself accepting my harsh reality, and I had planned on telling Nero about Franz’s visit to Milton. With Fia refusing to speak with me, Papa too emotionally close to the situation, and Mammi useless, I’d had no choice but to ask Nero for help. However, all that had changed when I’d overheard him talking with Aurelio, alluding to some sort of secret that had to do with me.
Waiting for Nero to come home, I had fallen asleep in his office, butwhen I’d woken up a little after two, I’d gone to get some water, then use the bathroom. When I had returned to his office, I hadn’t expected to overhear Aurelio advising Nero to confess to something that was bad enough to make me leave him if I ever found out.
Now, normally, I wouldn’t have thought much about it since my marriage hadn’t exactly started out with any semblance of love, respect, or trust, but…but like all the stupid women before me, I had let the sex get into my head, and I couldn’t say that I no longer felt anything for Nero beyond our arranged marriage. Whenever he took me, he did it with enough passion that it had me believing that there was something more between us. The lines between lust and genuine affection had started to blur, and I had no one to blame but myself for being a fucking idiot.
So, with my thoughts and emotions a jumbled mess, I’d gone back upstairs last night, then had pretended to be sleeping when Nero had come to bed. Not surprisingly, he had ‘woken’ me up with his face between my thighs, and I had let him. For just an hour, I had wanted to forget the mess that was my life right now, so I had allowed Nero to use me before putting me back to sleep. It’d been a weak move, but it was crazy how tired I was beginning to feel. Only two weeks later, but I felt as if I’d been in this marriage for years, still trying to find a way to navigate around everything that I still didn’t know.
